Chapter 5 I won't talk

"What, borrowing money?"

Elizabeth was stunned.

Across from her, Mrs Lewis was still complaining, "My son has been bewitched by that woman too, not saying a word. If I hadn't found this IOU note at home, I wouldn't have known he lent her money."

After a pause, Elizabeth came back to her senses and hurriedly apologized, "Mrs Lewis, I'm sorry. Here, I'll give you fifty dollars."

She ran back into the room and took fifty dollars out of her wallet.Mrs Lewis took the money, shaking her head and said "Ah Elizabeth what this daughter-in-law of yours has done... I heard she also borrowed money from others in the estate. Logically speaking, your family isn't short of money, does she have any urgent need for money?"

Elizabeth forced a smile, "Maybe she does. You know this kid is stubborn, she probably came across some difficulties and didn't want to tell us, so she went to your house."

Worried that Mrs Lewis's big mouth might ruin her son's reputation, Elizabeth gave her another dollar to keep her mouth shut. "Please don't spread this around. The kid is sensitive and it wouldn't be good if things got out."Mrs Lewis cast a sympathetic look at Elizabeth, "Don't worry, I won't talk about it."

Back in her room, Elizabeth thought about the situation and the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

How many messes had she already cleaned up for this good-for-nothing daughter-in-law?

If she had known this would happen, she would never have let her marry into the Parker family!

The Parker family's threshold wasn't just for any Tom, Dick or Harry to cross.

If it weren't for the old marriage agreement and the fact the girl's family said Dorothy was studying nursing and was gentle and loved children, she would never have allowed Dorothy, a woman with no money, no job, and no education, through the door.

She heard that her grades in high school were average too.

Seeing as Nicholas is of a high rank in the military, it is not unlikely for him to find a university graduate.

It's just that Dorothy is quite adept at disguising herself.

Before entering their home, she indeed came off as gentle and virtuous, lively, and very caring. At that time, Elizabeth was rather satisfied with her.

But once she stepped inside their home, she discarded all pretenses and revealed her true nature: lazy, gluttonous, and abusive towards children. Her behaviour simply grew from bad to worse...

If it weren't for the difficulty of divorce within military marriages and her fear of affecting their son's future, Elizabeth would've insisted they get a divorce!

"Granny, did mom borrow more money from others?"Logan asked, approaching her.

Whenever he was faced with Dorothy, Logan addressed her by her full name. But around other family members, he still referred to her as "mom". Regardless of how Dorothy mistreated him, the Parker's treated him well.

Logan did not want to make things difficult for his affectionate Uncle Nicholas, Grandpa Ryan, and Grandma Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gently patted his head and said, "You don't have to worry about adult matters. How about eating supper and then going upstairs to sleep? Granny has brought back some candy for you."

Opening her handbag, she took out several Cadbury's chocolates. The kind that was only available at the candy store. On this account, one of her colleagues whose daughter got married a week before,decided to treat them to a luxurious shopping spree and Elizabeth took the opportunity to get special chocolate for her grandson

Otherwise, on ordinary days, even those rich folks wouldn't be able to buy it.

Once Logan saw the box of expensive chocolate, his eyes sparkled with delight, but he still resisted: "Granny, you should eat it."

Seeing his reaction, Elizabeth couldn't hold back a laugh: "Granny doesn't like such sickeningly sweet things, you can eat it."

She stuffed it into Logan's hands and reminded him, "Remember to brush your teeth after eating."

"I know!" As soon as Logan got the candy, he was so eager that he tore the wrapper and put it into his mouth. The sweet taste made his eyes squint with satisfaction.

"Uh-oh, the soup is going to be overcooked!" Elizabeth slapped her thigh, stood up and hurried towards the kitchen.

Logan, holding a box of chocolate in his hand, could not resist and ate three pieces in one go.

On the other side.

Dorothy walked into the room with a towel drying her hair, opened the wardrobe, and looked at the original owner's clothes. They were so outdated...

After half a day, she picked a barely wearable white cotton nightgown and put it on.

"Dorothy! Come downstairs dinner is ready." Elizabeth called from downstairs.

"Oh, I got it, mom!" Dorothy responded loudly and casually threw the towel on the back of the chair. The big white towel was probably bought by the original owner during her marriage to Nicholas, and it was embroidered with a large cupid design

Dorothy descended the stairs and saw two bowls of mushroom barley soup on the table, each with potatoes.

Logan was already holding a bowl, eating quietly and politely.

Dorothy also sat down and picked up her spoon.

"Thanks, mom, for working so hard." After all, gratitude is a must when you're eating someone's food.

Elizabeth only hummed softly.

"There won't be a next time, make it yourself if you want to eat."

Dorothy thought to herself, where could she cook? In her previous life, she didn't even touch the handle of a ladle.

She initially pondered why such a prominent family as the Parker's didn't hire a housekeeper. Although this era was strictly managed, a housekeeper should still be manageable for someone of Parker's father's caliber, right?

She suddenly vaguely remembered from the original story that the protagonist, Nicholas, was brought up by a nanny. He had been mistreated by the nanny, and when he was young, a fire accident occurred due to the nanny's negligence in the kitchen and he nearly got burned alive in a sealed room, which caused him a significant psychological trauma from fire.

Of course, after adopting Logan, the Parker's hired another nanny. After all, due to the nature of their work, the Parker father and son were often away from home for years, while Elizabeth was busy working at the bank and had no time to take care of the child.

However, the previous three nannies hired weren't effective. After all, they were outsiders and they didn't care.

Later, as a last resort, Nicholas thought of marrying a woman to help him take care of the child, but he didn't expect to marry Dorothy, a so-called "terrorizer".

While thinking about these things and eating at the same time, Dorothy was suddenly asked by Elizabeth, "Do you need money recently?"

She unconsciously answered, "No." She saw that the original owner still had around one hundred dollars in her wallet.

"Why are you borrowing money from others if you don't need it?!" Elizabeth's voice suddenly rose eight octaves.

Dorothy: "???"

She quickly deduced that it must have been something the original owner did.

She thought for a moment and then said, "I had some cash flow issues before, so I borrowed some money."

Elizabeth shook her head, looking at her with a sense of disappointment and frustration, "You're really a spendthrift. Think about it, Nicholas sends more than ninety dollars a month from the army, and most of it goes to you. I give you an extra ten dollars every month for grocery shopping. So, you have more money at your disposal than an official factory worker! Yet even with such income, you still overspend. Now, tell me, where is all the money spent?"

How could Dorothy know where the original owner had spent her money?

She felt even more wronged.

Crossing over to this place isn't beneficial at all, but turns out to be just endless blame.

"Starting from next month, you will not receive the grocery shopping money. And don't expect to get money from Nicholas either. I will talk to his army unit and have the monthly allowance sent directly to my bank account."

Dorothy nodded, "Okay."

Living under someone else's roof and having to owe them is tough. She didn't want to live a life where she constantly had to reach out for help, a life without dignity.

Even if the conditions of the Parker's were good, she planned to move out on her own as soon as she found a job.

So what if you have a flushing toilet and a bathtub? Freedom is worth much more.

Elizabeth took Dorothy's nonchalant attitude as arrogance, her face suddenly became cold: "The fifty dollars you borrowed from Mrs Lewis's son, I've repaid it for you. But Dorothy, this should not happen again. If you are short of money, just say it out loud. Our family can certainly afford this small amount."

"But if you continue to mess around with men outside and want to cuckold Nicholas, even if it's a military marriage, my son will still divorce you!"